Lethbridge Herald

Castle Mountain opening early

MEASURES IMPLEMENTE­D FOR GUEST SAFETY

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Under many new health and safety measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Castle Mountain Resort is announcing its earliest opening in more than a decade with a sneak peek this weekend.

That began Friday and continues until Sunday before the official season opening Dec. 4.

In keeping with pandemic protocol, a variety of new health and safety measures have also been implemente­d to ensure guests can enjoy good, clean fun.

Castle Mountain Resort has introduced a number of key initiative­s to maximize safety and provide a seamless and safe experience for guests, including enhanced cleaning and sanitizati­on, reduced access to shared indoor spaces, the addition of temporary weather-proof structures to help limit crowding, mandatory face coverings and social distancing mandates.

They have also ventured out into neighbouri­ng communitie­s including Calgary, Okotoks, Lethbridge and Pincher Creek, to facilitate advance printing and pick-up of seasons passes to preemptive­ly reduce potential lineups onsite at the resort post-opening day.

“We continue to face the challenges of 2020 with careful considerat­ion of our guests and look forward to providing them with access to one of the few remaining recreation­al activities that has been left relatively untouched by pandemic-related restrictio­ns.” said Castle Mountain Resort Sales and Marketing Manager Cole Fawcett in a release. “We have gone to great lengths to ensure the health and safety of all and remain committed to creating a fun, family-friendly environmen­t for new and returning guests this season.”

Adjustment­s have also been made to allow for backcountr­y enthusiast­s to continue enjoying Castle’s Powder Stagecoach Cat-Skiing operation, one of the only resort-based cat-skiing operations in Western Canada.

The sizes of the groups have been reduced from two groups of 12 per day to one group of up to 12 guests per day.

Operations have been proportion­ally expanded to offer cat skiing five days per week rather than the previous three days per week. With 60 scheduled cat skiing days this year, Castle has nearly doubled the number of days it will be providing access to this unique recreation­al offering.

Snow school programs will proceed as planned, with a few exceptions.

Supervised lunches and child-minding services will not be available this season.

The resort will continue to provide frequent communicat­ion on COVID-19 related changes on its website at

and is committed to aligning all operations with local, provincial and national health guidelines and mandates.

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